Moab adventures all in one mega-post

I was going to write a blog post each day, but the activities of each day tired me out too much. Instead, I am summarizing the entire week in one mega-post…

Conor coming in after his final ride of the day

After Conor’s arrival late Sunday night, we jumped right into the activities Monday morning. I first took him to the Moab Brands mountain biking trails where I got to re-experience the two trails I rode two weeks prior, and Conor got his first taste of Moab mountain biking trails. While I was still dealing with the last effects of my head-cold (or what ever it was) I was pleased to ride more miles in that single day then I had in any other. Conor, being the younger man, rode an additional 3 miles while I rested up. By noon we were beat, and it was too hot to ride anymore anyway, so we went into town for  lunch before returning to our camp to clean and repair our bikes… but our day was not over.

I am caught staring over the edge

At 5pm we drove up to the “Island in the Sky” (Canyonlands). On the way we dropped in to scout out the Dead Horse Point State Park for mountain biking later in the week. We did not have a whole lot of time as I was trying to get Conor our to the Grand Viewpoint before the sunset. The 12 miles of road is very low speeds and quite twisty, so it took nearly another half hour of driving. We did make it however, and enjoyed the sunset colors and shadows over the enormous view South over the canyons.

Conor under Delicate Arch

Tuesday we took off from mountain biking and instead woke early to get into Arches National Park. Our original plan was to be in the park and in position to photography Delicate Arch as the sun rose, but two things prevented that; 1) We woke late, and 2) a layer of clouds prevented any such sunrise. Instead, we took our time to eat a good breakfast and got to Delicate Arch a little after 10am. This is my 3rd time making this hike with my most recent only 12 months ago when I was last in the Moab area, so I did not bother to take many pictures other than the obligatory shot of Conor under the Arch before heading back into Moab for lunch.

243 ft Morning Glory Arch/Natural Bridge

I had talked with Conor in the past about this trail I did back in September of 2011 – Negro Bill Canyon – so I was happy to finally get to guide him along this one too. It is a 2.5 mile hike along a stream, out to a quite large natural bridge under the slickrock of Moab. The trail differed greatly due to the change in season; In 2011 it was fall and all the trees still had leaves. Now it was post-winter and all the leaves were long since browned and on the ground. Once again, since I already had numerous photos (see post from 2011), and photos of much better scenic quality, I only bothered to snap a few of the bridge itself.

Trying to figure out the GoPro camera

We had planned a trip up to Dead Horse Point State Park on Wednesday, but failed to get cash from the ATM to pay the fees upon entering the park, so it was rescheduled for Thursday. Instead, we decided to revisit Brands Moab mountain biking park to try a few different trails. This time we were prepared to bring the helmet mounted GoPro camera to get a few “in action” shots of the both of us. As luck would have it, after 15 minutes of fiddling around to get the thing configured, the battery died within 60 seconds of hitting the trail. We only got this image, repeated 30 times, and nothing of us on the trail…

As you can see in the image, we had overcast conditions again, which turned out to be ideal for our biking. We ran through another 10-12 miles of trail, and increased the level of trail we rode. I struggled with any incline in the trail after two days of activities, while Conor struggled with any decline in the trail. We found that we both enjoyed drastically different trail-types; Conor preferred higher-speed dirt paths while I preferred lower speed slick-rock descents. My preference carried more risk of injury, and I came close multiple times but escaped with only minor scratches, while Conor carried his bike down the rougher terrain. However, as we came back onto the dirt and the need to gain elevation, Conor pulled off into the distance to leave me to struggle alone.Still, at the end of the day, although tired, it was a huge success and we had a lot of fun.

Long exposure starlight shot of the van

Late that evening we experimented with starlight photography and came up with a great shot of Big Blue camped in the Moab desert under the stars. This photo was a 10-minute long exposure at 11pm.

Conor and I at Big Chief overlook

Thursday, after acquiring the necessary cash to pay the fee at Dead Horse Point State Park, we set out to ride the 9 mile “Big Chief” loop. But as we have come to learn, nothing goes to plan. This time it was some construction in the parking area that prevented us from doing the entire loop. Instead we parked at the Group Camping area, cutting about 4 miles off the loop. In hind-sight, this was a good thing as the wind was blowing so badly up at the park that it was difficult at times to even stay on the bike. In addition, three previous days of long physical activity had turned my legs to mush. I could barely pedal on level ground, let alone up any hills. We still had a great time thanks to the ease of the trail.

I had always wondered why it was called Dead Horse Point, and the brochure let me in on the secret… Back in the day, the cowboys would herd together all the wild mustangs and chase them to this ‘point’ on the cliff. The mustangs would be chased past a tight 30-meter wide bridge of land that the cowboys would fence off leaving the mustangs no where to go unless they could fly. The cowboys would then pick the mustangs they wanted, rope them and pull them out, then leave the remaining mustangs fenced in to die of thirst. Hence the name; “Dead Horse Point”. Personally I think it should be named “We were assholes point” but that is just me.

After a fourth day of riding and hiking I could go no more. I informed Conor that I would not be going out for Friday’s biking and that he was on his own. Instead I sit here writing this post, giving my butt and my legs a much needed break. I have a lot of cleanup to do and a long day of work tomorrow before I can roll out of the Moab area. I am in no rush as the Rocky Mountains are expecting a nice blanket of snow on Saturday night, plus the Spring Break traffic back into the Denver area on Sunday will be another hell. As is usual, I will make a small hop into the Grand Junction area on Sunday and wait until Monday to drive over the Rocky’s where I am super-excited to see my son and my cat!